A $600,000 drive to aid Jews living in Moslem countries will be launched next month by a new organization, the Committee For The Forgotten Million, it was announced here today by William Z. Novick, executive director. Most of the funds will help to extend religious and secular education and provide food and clothing to Jewish children residing in the Arab states.
Jewish children in Tripolitania, Syria, Iran and French Morocco are living under the “most appalling” circumstances, Novick stated. In Casablanca, he noted, 80 percent of the Jewish children die from tuberculosis before they reach their first birthday. A staff of 260 teachers is at present engaged in an intensified educational program, Novick said, adding that the Committee is planning to set up an additional 200 schools which will make possible the enrollment of 10,000 children. The Committee also plans to provide care for the aged and the ill.
Funds for this expanded program, Novick explained, are sought from Jewish communal federations, individuals and various organizations. These will be asked to “adopt” a Jewish child living in an Arab country for a one-year period for a sum of $100. Those “adopting” a child will be enabled to correspond with their beneficiaries through the Committee. The Committee is a completely non-political body, Novick asserted. Among the sponsors of the group, Novick named Dr. David de Sola Pool, Samuel Schneireson, Dr. Leo Jung, Irving Bunim and other prominent Jewish leaders.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
